Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

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OldTackle
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Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by OldTackle »

Gents, I hope to clear up some problems that recently turned up concerning Cardinal 44 spools.
I bought a re-stock aluminium spool for my early ABU Cardinal 44 reel. But when I spooled line up (using the reel of course) it turned out that the line lay is somehow different. I got new line on both of my spools - the new one and original plastic one. Original: perfect line lay, ready to go into the upcoming season over here. The new aluminium on the other hand had far too much line at the bottom but please compare the attached pictures. I tried to get it best I could to make the differences obvious.
Both, seller and producing engineer responded the problem is with my reel but I found that a bit of a poor answer. A refund was offered but postage costs back and forth equals the price of the spool itself so I am a bit hesitating.
So here's the question: Are there differences in size of the original spool between the Cardinal 4, 44, 44x reels and their versions?
Any thoughts?
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Mitch300
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by Mitch300 »

Hello Oldtackle,

From what I can see, your replacement spool may be sitting a little too `high' on the shaft. I would look at the underside of the replacement
spool to see if the indentations/slots into which the cross-piece on the shaft locates are too narrow, or have debris in them from the manufacturing process. If that is the problem, it may be possible to clean them up/widen them with a small file.

G. B.

Ps. That looks like a very well used and much loved reel.

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OldTackle
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by OldTackle »

Mitch300 wrote: Sat Feb 23, 2019 3:35 am Hello Oldtackle,

From what I can see, your replacement spool may be sitting a little too `high' on the shaft. I would look at the underside of the replacement
spool to see if the indentations/slots into which the cross-piece on the shaft locates are too narrow, or have debris in them from the manufacturing process. If that is the problem, it may be possible to clean them up/widen them with a small file.

G. B.

Ps. That looks like a very well used and much loved reel.
Hi Mitch300,

spool does sit very tidy on the shaft. If not it wouldn't lock in the upper notch of the shaft properly. And that's exactly why I couldn't simply deepen the slots a bit. Then the spool won't lock in place anymore...
It must have something to do with different spool dimensions over the year.

Yes, these reels seem to take some beating. It must have seen a lot in the past. Unfortunately it can't tell me more of that but I am keen to add some period to it. Mechanically it does not stand a nanometer behind the almost unused 33 I had and passed on.
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BeechmereLake
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by BeechmereLake »

Hi,recently been doing many many Cardinal 55 and 57 reels (servicing) and have seen spools come in on reels where the line lay is poor but more so the line tapers to the base of the spool. The spools I get to see are just plain black metal spools with no engraving on them like the ones sold by Les Shaw, there are a couple of after market spools for the 44 out there and to be honest this is the only problem I have come across regarding a 44.

Could you post pics of the internal boomerang for me on your reel Chris so I can see its the early one. I have had loaded spools that look untidy on 44's but not as bad as yours. :Scared: Have you also tried to load the spool with a spool reducer on?
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OldTackle
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by OldTackle »

Thank you very much for your reply Martin,

I am sure the problem with the line lay comes from the slight differences of the spools dimensions. The plastic spool I got the reel with works perfectly.
Good point with that boomerang though. A bit strange if someone changed that along with the spool - in this case the spool wouldn't be from a 44 reel...
Well, who knows...strangest things happen with beloved reels.
No, I haven't used a spool reducer as the aluminium spool is already a shallow Match spool. Edit: ah, sorry..not really a Match spool. I guess a line spacer would reduce that problem? Sadly I don't have one to try.
Here's the picture:
Image
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Olly
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by Olly »

I have a 44 and all 3 spools - 1 x deep & 2 x shallow - are similar to the spool on the right with a 'proud' button. But the shallow ones have chenille at
the base.

This spool appear to be higher than the flat button one, all mine seem to be the same design as the right one.

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BeechmereLake
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by BeechmereLake »

The internals are as expected, perfect for the early reel (44).

I still believe the problem lies in the spool but could you tell me how you load your spools

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OldTackle
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by OldTackle »

BeechmereLake wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 9:34 pm The internals are as expected, perfect for the early reel (44).

I still believe the problem lies in the spool but could you tell me how you load your spools

Martin
Evening Martin,

I do use DAM Tectan Superior line for all my reels for years now. The line case is designed perfectly to spool the line directly on the reel. So I load my spools using the reel itself. So the filled spool reflects the mechanics of the reel.
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BeechmereLake
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by BeechmereLake »

Ok well going back to your reel the only way the stroke can be changed is if the boomerang (link) has been altered, one of the most annoying things with Cardinals is the sound of the spool hitting the end of the worm gear where is protrudes through the locking nut, a small copper shim on the axle between boomerang and the back of the drag system is normal and can cure it but something that does cure it is to put the boomerang link in a pair of grips and very slightly adjust the shape of the link, its been done many times so your reel may have had that done sometime but seriously I think the spools are at fault, I think the spool is to short where the line sits and maybe too long overall. :Scared:
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Re: Differences in Cardinal 44 spools?

Post by Olly »

I am resurrecting this - but for the 66!

Just put new line on a 66 - the old line lay was great but the new line has caused exactly the above as shown on the 44 spool! I wound the new line onto a Shimano GT4000 spool where the lay was perfect. Then rewound it onto the 66 spool again where the line lay was much better - but not perfect.

Possible line twist seems to have caused the problem - although I am open to any other ideas/conclusions of ways to avoid this - I have several more spools to fill with new line!

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